THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 141, June 10, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
IRAQ: RETURN OF THE PURPLE FINGERS
By J. Scott Carpenter & Michael Rubin
PARLIAMENTARY CONSIDERATION OF A LAW TO GOVERN PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS IN IRAQ: PARLIAMENTARY
DEBATE OVER HOW IRAQIS SHOULD ELECT THEIR PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS: GEOGRAPHIC CONSTITUENY-BASED
ELECTIONS, OR A PARTY-SLATE ELECTION SYSTEM IN EACH PROVINCE? EFFECTIVE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT,
POLITICAL STABILITY, THE RULE OF LAW, & INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY UNDER LAW WILL VERY MUCH DEPEND ON WHAT
PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS LAW THE IRAQI PARLIAMENT DECIDES TO PASS
FULL STORY:
Within the next few months, Iraqis will once again wave purple fingers in the air as they cast ballots for provincial
governments. As Iraq's Parliament debates a law to govern the elections, U.S. diplomats and international experts have
an opportunity, if not to correct past mistakes, then to help put local government on the right footing.
This Spring, officials in Washington and Baghdad celebrated final approval of benchmark legislation governing
provincial powers; U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker called its passage March 19, 2008, "a major step forward." No longer
would bureaucrats in Baghdad exert arbitrary control over the provinces, assigning budgets and funding projects
irrespective of local desires. Sunni leaders would not be able to drain the Shiite-populated marshes without local
consent, for example, nor would Shiite militiamen in ministry offices in Baghdad be in a position to carry out vendettas
against Sunnis in Anbar province. And, as local faces emerge, accessible and accountable to ordinary Iraqis, cynicism
about unresponsive Green Zone politicians should decline.
At least, that's how it could be. Much depends on what election law Iraqis choose.
Before the transfer of sovereignty in 2004, U.S., U.N. and Iraqi officials debated how Iraqis should elect their leaders.
Ordinary citizens and many politicians of constitutionalist persuasion sought geographic constituency-based elections:
Iraqi politicians would run for defined districts. Every city, town, or group of villages would have its representative in
Parliament. But many communities remained scattered after Saddam Hussein's ethnic cleansing campaigns. Given this,
as well as for the administrative ease of organizing elections, the officials agreed to adopt a party-slate system.
It was a fateful decision. Rather than vote for individuals, Iraqis voted for political parties, whose leaders compiled lists
of candidates. In descending order, one candidate would enter Parliament for every 31,000 votes the party received.
Under this system, aspiring politicians owed their future, not to voters, but to the party leaders who compiled the lists.
Instead of encouraging Iraqi politicians to debate security, sewage and schooling, the party-slate system encouraged
them to engage in the most extreme sectarian or ethno-nationalist rhetoric to prove their mettle to party leaders. Those
who preached tolerance or voiced more technocratic concerns found themselves at the bottom of lists. United Iraqi
Alliance leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, for example, would place politicians who toed a Shiite chauvinist line ahead of, say,
moderates who sought national reconciliation. Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani tolerated no politician from Kirkuk who
prioritized economic development over his hard-line position on autonomy. Demagoguery flourished, and stability
faltered.
Reforming Iraq's election system on the national level will be difficult. Every member of parliament is a beneficiary of the
system. If the lists are maintained, those whose only qualification is loyalty need never worry about debating the
intricacies of infrastructure development with engineers or grass-roots activists. Nor will party leaders drive change.
Those who control the lists enjoy their privileged status. They want to be power brokers, not merely representatives.
At the local level, however, there is real opportunity. Before the 2005 elections, one poll showed that only 3 percent of
Iraqis viewed political parties favorably. As ordinary people have been victimized by corruption, abuses of power and
party militias, Iraqis say the popularity of political parties and party bosses has fallen even further. Many Shiites, for
example, say that they will no longer vote for a unified sectarian list. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani recognizes the trend
and will probably not demand sectarian solidarity in local elections. In Anbar, local elections enable the Iraqis there to
solidify the past year's gains. For the emergent leadership of the Awakening Council, who earned their credentials on
the battlefield against al-Qa'ida affiliates, provincial elections mean real representation, whether or not Iraq's Shiite
leadership likes it.
Iraqis should have the right to vote for the best individuals to administer governorates and sit on district councils. The
country need not abandon parties or proportional representation, but lawmakers could explore an open-list system that
would allow citizens to vote for people they know. Even better would be a mixed system, such as the one practiced in
Germany, which combines party lists with the ability to elect individuals. Party bosses may resist, but, if Iraq is to
achieve stability, it would be better to battle in the political and diplomatic spheres now rather than later on the
battlefield, with the bosses and militia enforcers clashing on the streets of Basra, Baghdad, or Kirkuk.
Not all elections are the same. Systems matter. When preparing for elections, the path of least resistance is not always
the best choice. Let's not make the same mistake twice.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
American Foreign Policy -- Constitutional Democracy:
U.S. Promotion of Constitutional Democracy in Foreign Countries
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
-------------------------
SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT:
CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY & OTHER POLITICAL REGIMES
Modern Constitutional Democracy:
Fundamental Character & Essential Ingredients
Constitutionalism: The First Essential Ingredient
of Modern Constitutional Democracy
Dictatorship: The Opposite of Constitutionalism
Representative Democracy: The Second Essential Ingredient
of Modern Constitutional Democracy
Direct Democracy & Representative Democracy
Political Culture & Modern Constitutional Democracy
Modern Constitutional Democracy:
Summary & Conclusion
J. Scott Carpenter, a Master of Science in Economics and European Studies (School of Advanced International Studies,
Johns Hopkins University), is the Keston Family Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Director of
the Institute's Project Fikra, the primary purpose of which is to empower Arab moderates and constitutional democrats
in their fight against Islamism, anti-Semitism, chauvinistic and authoritarian political regimes, Pan-Arab Nationalism, and
other extremist forces in the Middle East.
From 2004 to 2007, Carpenter served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. In
2006, he was appointed Coordinator for the U.S. State Department's Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiatives.
Earlier, Carpenter served in Baghdad as Director of the Governance Group for the Coalition Provisional Authority and as
a key advisor to CPA Administrator L. Paul Bremer. Prior to Carpenter's service in Iraq, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Before joining the State Department, he worked with the
International Republican Institute (IRI), a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. and promoting constitutional
democratic political development worldwide.
Dr. Michael Rubin, a Ph.D. in History (Yale University) and a specialist in Middle Eastern politics, Islamic culture and Islamist
ideology, is Editor of the Middle East Quarterly, a senior lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School, and a resident
scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Dr Rubin is author of Into the Shadows: Radical
Vigilantes in Khatami's Iran (Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2001) and is co-author, with Dr. Patrick Clawson,
of Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). Dr. Rubin served as political advisor to the Coalition
Provisional Authority in Baghdad (2003-2004); staff advisor on Iran and Iraq in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense
(2002-2004); visiting lecturer in the Departments of History and International Relations at Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(2001-2002); visiting lecturer at the Universities of Sulaymani, Salahuddin, and Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan (2000-2001); Soref
Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (1999-2000); and visiting lecturer in the Department of History at Yale
University (1999-2000). He has been a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Leonard Davis Institute at Hebrew
University, and the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs.
The foregoing article by Scott Carpenter and Michael Rubin was originally published in the Washington Post, June 9,
2008, and can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks
to define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/1920)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
June 9, 2008
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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